Your Evening Briefing

July 21, 2025

S&P 500 barely clings to gains for another record closing high

The grind higher continues with fresh record closing highs for major indexes.

The S&P 500 inched up 0.1% but finished well off its highs of the day. The Nasdaq 100 gained 0.5%, while the Russell 2000, which had been the best performer early in the session, ended down 0.4%.

Communications services was the best-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, while energy was the worst.

Robust earnings, revenues, and improved guidance sent shares of Verizon 4% higher.
Block gained 7% after an announcement Friday after the close that it was being added to the S&P 500.
Opendoor had a ridiculous session, soaring nearly 120% at its peak in a clear gamma squeeze before being halted for volatility to the downside and finishing up 43%. More money changed hands on Monday trading Opendoor, a $2.3 billion company, than Meta, a $1.8 trillion company.
Trump Media rose 3% but finished well off its highs after announcing that it had boosted its crypto asset holdings by $2 billion. Elsewhere in crypto, Dynamix Corp. surged after announcing plans to merge with The Ether Company in a SPAC deal.
Stellantis managed to edge higher despite releasing a preliminary report suggesting first-half losses of $2.7 billion, in part due to tariffs boosting costs.
Domino’s dipped after reporting lower quarterly earnings than analysts anticipated.
Sarepta slumped after saying it would continue selling its gene treatment despite the US FDA’s request that it be pulled off the market.
Shares of Ryanair soared after net income crushed estimates, with the airline also reportedly considering boosting the bonus it pays to staff for catching oversized luggage.

— Luke Kawa, Markets Editor

An explosion of speculative call option buying signals the return of retail traders’ favorite weapon

We’re seeing activity that looks an awful lot like gamma squeezes in some of the most speculative stocks. Read more.

There’s one major tailwind for the Mag 7 ahead of earnings

A weaker dollar could quietly boost profits for the global tech giants.

Read more.

What would it take to lure OpenAI’s head of research, Mark Chen, over to Meta? That's the question Mark Zuckerberg asked Chen and according to The Wall Street Journal, the Meta CEO mentioned numbers with a lot of zeroes.

Read more.

Yes, the US stock market’s juice is coming from companies with poor fundamentals that traders love
The dial on speculative fervor has been cranked up to 11.
JPM: High-beta trades like Palantir are a red flag
Is it the wisdom of crowds, or just jumping on the bandwagon?
Uber’s focus on robotaxis might also accelerate its stalling electrification efforts
The ride-hailing app’s new deal with Lucid marks a major push toward autonomous vehicles — after falling behind on its zero-emission goals.
Hackers exploit Microsoft SharePoint “zero day” vulnerability
Deep cuts to Homeland Security’s CISA cyber response team come at a bad time, as organizations around the globe scramble to patch their systems and assess damage from hackers.
Traffic to the Astronomer company’s website jumped more than 15,000% after the viral Coldplay clip
Look at the website analytics, look how they shine for you: traffic to Astronomer’s website exploded after its big Coldplay moment.
The long, slow death of the late-night talk show
CBS is pulling the plug on its iconic “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” after the next TV season.
Companies are hiring “Professional Redditors” to plug their brand on the social media platform
Fintech company Ramp had a job posting seeking a “Reddit power user.”

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